Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has cultivated a following made up of racists, conspiracy theorists, and neo-Nazis. Some, like Trump supporter Melanie Austin, are people who feel they’ve been left behind … and that the world is out to get them.
A Descent Into Madness
A recent Washington Post article tells the story of Melanie Austin. Austin is a 52-year-old Pennsylvanian woman from the very small, very white, very Republican town of Brownsville. Her journey into madness began in the 1990s, during Bill Clinton’s administration, when she began filing lawsuits against her former employer.
It wasn’t until 2011, though, that things went from bad to outright delusional.
Austin lost her job after running a red signal with her train that year. Her anxiety issues had been getting worse every day, and she states she cannot remember the incident. As reported by the Washington Post:
“She went on disability. After a while, she tried to get a job at the local firehouse but came to believe officials were stealing money. She tried to stay on top of her anxiety medication but thought her doctor was committing Medicare fraud. She joined a motorcycle club called Bikers for Christ but found the members to be just ‘filthy old men.’ And every day there was Brownsville.”
Austin began to focus her ire on President Barack Obama, man she says was unknown:
“‘Nobody knew him! I mean, “Dreams from My Father’ from Kenya?”‘ Melanie said, referring to Obama’s memoir.
To her, the president seemed so far away, so oblivious to the decay she saw around her that when Donald Trump began suggesting that Obama was not American, it made sense. When Trump and others suggested that Obama was Muslim, to Melanie it seemed plausible. And when Obama started talking about, of all things, gay marriage and letting transgender people into bathrooms, it all came together: The president of the United States was a gay Muslim from Kenya working to undermine America.”
People who believe things like this are why we are now all dealing with the specter of a Trump presidency. Austin went from disgruntled former railroad worker to die-hard Trump supporter very quickly.
Trump Supporter: ‘Here Comes Big Daddy’
Austin boarded the Trump train early on. She began a social media firestorm, ranting to thousands of followers about the evils of Democrats and how Trump would save us all. According to the Washington Post:
“She wrote #hangslickwillynow, and in reference to Hillary Clinton, #hangtheskanknow, and then she turned her attention to Obama. The president should be hanged and the White House fumigated and burned to the ground, Melanie wrote, and soon after that, the state police were knocking on her front door.”
After spending a few weeks in a hospital last February, discharged with the words “homicidal ideation” on her paperwork, Austin went deeper and deeper into the Trump rabbit hole.
“’It never crossed my mind that I’m losing it,’ she said several months after her release, and a big reason for this conviction was the rise of Donald Trump, who had talked about so many of the things she had come to believe — from Obama being a founder of the terrorist group ISIS, to Hillary Clinton being a co-founder, to the idea that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia may have been murdered in a White House plot involving a prostitute and a pillow.”
In Trump, Austin sees a kindred spirit, a person who is validating her own racist beliefs. She thinks she sees a leader. As he took the stage at the Republican convention, Austin was beside herself:
“’Here comes Big Daddy,’ she said, clapping. ‘The Donald. Big Daddy.'”
Austin lives in a world of conspiracy theory websites and alternate realities. She is a woman roped in by Trump’s promises to “Make America Great Again,” facts be damned.
And she’s not the only one. Not by a long shot.
Think About The Trump Supporters You Know
Everyone knows someone who’s a Trump supporter. If you’re up to it, ask them why. Ask them to articulate their support for Trump without invoking Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s name. See if they can come up with a cogent argument in favor of Trump, because most cannot. It all winds back around to Clinton and this fantasy that the right and the alt-right, now one and the same, have perpetuated for decades.
This, despite the fact — yes, FACT — that she is the most qualified candidate in history. Despite the fact that she is, demonstrably, a very honest candidate. She is not without her flaws, as no one is without flaws, but she is ready to take the office.
Though Melanie Austin clearly has a mental illness, her take on Trump is not something reserved only for those suffering from such an illness. Trump’s supporters are, by and large, people who live in an alternate reality.
Featured image via screenshot from YouTube video.
